Politician Archive
Thread: Merchant/PlayerCity/StaticCity content idea
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GTomlinson
Tue Jan 11, 2005 5:45 pm
#1
Market/Merchant Kiosks:
- Allow a Merchant to craft Merchant kiosks that can be manned by the merchant while he/she is online. The kiosk should come in several varieties based on the type of goods the merchant wants to sell (weapons, ship components, med supplies, food, armor, etc.)
- Treat this merchant as a droid deed with a storage compartment treated as that of a vendor (linked to the merchant's level). If the merchant goes off-line the kiosks is automatically stored.
- Kiosks can be called by any novice merchant by calling the deed like a vehicle or droid. Once called it is immobile.
- Kiosks can only be called/created in pre-designated market sectors of NPC cities and take up one square. Each city has a limited number of market squares. There should be a 10% (20% for spaceport cities)convenience fee surcharge on all purchases from a kiosk. (a choice spot like this can't be free!)
- Kiosks could also replace the junk dealers in NPC cities. Kiosk merchants should be able to hand out loot kits, but the owning merchant shouls not get the revenue from this static game element.
- Kiosks can buy junk components like the current junk dealers. This does not create revenue for the merchant, but the item is removed from the game (like the current junk dealer) instead of going into the vendor's storage.
- Items purchased from a kiosk must be placed in the purchaser's inventory. If the inventory is full, the purchaser cannot purchase that item. (What if the merchant goes offline before the item is picked up?)
- Allow an architect to craft a 10x10 Market deed for Player cities that act like the NPC market described above, but without the 10% surcharge. (player cities already have sales tax)
- Each kiosk has a vendor manning it that gives a junk dealer discussion thread with the additional option "Let me see what you have for sale" that brings up the vendor interface.
Pappi
Tue Jan 11, 2005 6:50 pm
#2
slightly OT...
when I read your first line, the first image that popped into my head was a hotdog stand
when I read your first line, the first image that popped into my head was a hotdog stand
Khristen
Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:23 am
#3
Pappi wrote:
slightly OT...
when I read your first line, the first image that popped into my head was a hotdog stand
LOL Me, too. But that doesn't have to be a bad thing. mmmmm Hot Dogs..... /grin
I've heard similar ideas bounced around on the Merchant forums for awhile, and I think it's a wonderful idea that could help both Merchants and Player Cities. It could certainly help to aleviate some of the starport spam and still give players interested in that kind of advertising/shopping a place to go. Keep it just out of loading range of the starport and lag gets reduced, too.
Perhaps instead of it being a Novice Merchant thing it could work similar to vendors: as you go up the Merchant trees you gain better looking kiosks with different options. Maybe even some kind of time limit on limited spots so that it doesn't get camped by AFK merchants. Put it something thatcan't be AFK-macroed from server reset to server reset or we'll end up with Kiosk-bots along with entertainer bots. 
Some great ideas!
DaQuilla
Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:29 am
#4
So what benifit would this bring to player cities? Because I suspect that if you are allowed to place a full vendor in a NPC starport city there is almost no reason for vendors to be placed in player cities ... these would only be visited by the few annoyed find the additional lag created by this.
You can already put up a small tent and put a vendor in there, so I don't really see the point of a kiosk other than it might be very convinient for traveling merchants that visit city after city (with a vendor full of 100s - 1000sof items) - but most merchants I know depend on customers knowing exactly where to find their items (fix waypoints).
And why should junk dealers be replaced? What if there is no Merchant online in a city (ok ... concerning starport NPC cities this would be highly unlikely ... but what about not so traveled places) ... then you can't get rid of your junk? Why do away with such a nice 24/7 NPC ? If the only benifit of this system is junk dealers for player cities ... just give us the ability to place them.
But others seam to like the idea ... tell me what I'm missing.
yoda101705
Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:10 pm
#5
While it is an interesting idea, implementing it in NPC cities would be the nail in the coffin for player cities. Give merchants the chance to move closer to the cities and they will. The other concern I have with the idea in NPC cites is that you would have the same old vendors and no one else could get in. However, if you used some sort of rotation system that gave each merchant a kiosk for a week and then they were rotated out. Of course, I can imagine the coding for such a rotation system would kill the average dev.
However, the idea about architects being able to craft a 10x10 market deed is quite a good one IMO. First, it is one new thing that architect can craft. Second, it is something new that Player Cities can add to help drive traffic to their city. I know merchant tents are rather similar and that with proper planning, you can accomplish the same thing.
But, this idea is different in a few ways. Basically you could place the market like a garden and then give access to merchants through the structure terminal. Each merchant can only place one kioskin the market (requires 1 lot perhaps) and the maintenance the merchant pays on the kiosk goes straight to the city treasury. As a merchant progresses up the merchant tree, several different kiosk styles would become available.
And perhaps instead of one style of market, architects could create different sizes. A small would have room for say 5 kiosks, a medium would have room for say 10 kiosks, and a large would have room for say 20 kiosks. Each size could also have different layouts, that way you could create your own custom layout within the city using several deeds. Each market would have a variety of decorations as well, to make help make it not-so-bland.
This would really give merchant cities a flea market feel. It is also a great way to possibly drive new traffic to player cities. With one concept you give 3 professions something new: architects get new deeds to make, merchants can now use kiosks, and politicians get something new they can place in their city.
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